This invention is directed to an air cleaner, valve cover, and intake manifold assembly that can be attached to a vehicle engine as a single unit.
Many different types of components are attached to a vehicle engine to facilitate engine operation. Intake manifolds are mounted to an engine to conduct air into the engine cylinders. Air cleaners with filters are used to remove dust, dirt, and other particulate contaminants from the airflow prior to the air being drawn into the intake manifold. A throttle body is mounted to the engine and includes a valve that controls the amount of airflow into the engine valves. A valve cover is also mounted to the engine to enclose and protect the engine valves from environmental contaminants.
Traditionally, each of these components has been separately formed and mounted to the engine. This increases material and overall system costs. Further, the assembly of these components onto the engine is time consuming and labor intensive. One solution has been to try to incorporate the air cleaner into the intake manifold or into the valve cover, however, this configuration still requires multiple assembly steps and components.
Thus, it is the object of the present invention to provide a simplified air cleaner, intake manifold, and valve cover assembly that reduces the overall number of required components, and which can be easily assembled onto an engine as a single unit, as well as overcoming the other above-mentioned deficiencies with the prior art.